She liked “Ang Probinsyano” at first. What she abhors is it seems it’s taking forever for the teleserye to end. She went sarcastic when I told her it’s extended until 2018. She prefers watching MMK (Maalaala Mo Kaya) or GMA’s “Magpakailanman” than “Ang Probinsyano” because MMK and “Magpakailanman” end in every episode and they are real-life stories where the real characters are flashed at the end of the story.

But I like this Probinsyano teleserye, fellas. No doubt about that. The issues are timely and relevant. Cardo Dalisay (portrayed by Coco Martin) plays a role model policeman every police officer should emulate.

But honestly, I don’t like “Ang Probinsyano” all the time.

We usually watch it while having dinner, but I have to switch to other channels once in a while when the director or directors (Malu Sevilla, Avel Sunpongco, Toto Natividad, Richard V. Somes, Kevin de Vela and Alan Chanliongco), well, I don’t know who among them, orders the cameraman to close up the face of the characters at the end of the scene and then zoom them one by one.

This act annoys me no end. Aside from prolonging the scene to kill the time with these useless close-ups, I feel dizzy with the zooming strategy. I usually have this headache after every scene. I don’t know who among the directors got this idea.

I thought I am alone who dislikes this end-of-a-scene zooming trick, but there are those who are also annoyed like me.

While browsing the net one day, I came across a blogger who puts his name as Francis The Whiz and posted this:

“Are you also annoyed by the frequent zooming of Ang Probinsyano? The camera work / movement is just so annoying. They do it in almost every scene, and especially on highlighting tension. Is this considered as a really bad cinematography? Any opinions of experts in this field?”

The more decent comment (01001010_01001101 4, reddit) is this: “I took a film class back in college, and yes, zooming in is usually considered bad cinematography. In films and televisions, the camera should act as your eyes, and since hindi naman biglang nagzozoom-in yung mata, it’s understandable why the experience can be quite disorienting. Usually, if you want to focus on something, you cut to a closer shot, or you just move the camera closer.”

“I honestly haven’t notice the zooming in before someone pointed it out here a month ago. Now, I can’t not notice it and it’s getting to my nerves.” (owliverqueen)

“YES. I had wanted to complain about it here before but I wasn’t prepared to argue against opposition T_T It is especially annoying when you’re “forced” to watch it while on a bus on a Sunday afternoon.” (friend_of_potato)

My friend, Shiena, who took filmography lessons said: “I have seen and studied a lot of movies and movie strips and it’s my first time to see this end-of-the-scene zooming technique employed by these teleserye directors. Honestly speaking, it doesn’t fit to any of those award-winning movies. This frequent zooming is not only annoying, it’s also indecent because it zooms closely the head parts (eyes, nose, ears, skin pores etc.) You can just imagine if the face being zoomed is full of pimple hole scars; that would be very embarrassing! The zooming technique induces the televiewers’ eyes to adjust rapidly and that contributes much to the dizzying effect.”

Here are the more sarcastic comments, fellas:

“I read a post complaining about it here about 3 months back. My friends and i decided to watch it to pass the time. Almost had a seizure 5 minutes in.The camera work coupled with the boom boom sounds on every zoom is ridiculous. Every scene has it. It should come with epilepsy trigger warning.” (gingervread)

“ABSCBN writers if you are reading this, for the love of God and all that is sane, please no more infinite zooms on Probinsyano. Nagkaka-cancer na po ako sa mata sa kaka-zoom mga eksena ng show ninyo.” (Johnny_mcnuggets)

“Seriously though that part is annoying as *!*k,honestly. For cringe effect, imagine if those non-stop “zoom-ins” were rampant in Game of Thrones, Suits, Breaking Bad & The Flash. If you don’t tear out your hair in frustration, you deserve a cookie. (deleted)

“The camera work coupled with the boom boom sounds on every zoom is ridiculous. Every scene has it. It should come with epilepsy trigger warning.” (seizure)

“If you would drink wine everytime the camera suddenly zooms in an actor’s face in Ang Probinsyano, you would die within 10 minutes. Seriously, the amount of zoom-ins are sooooo high!” (averageschmuck)